Technologies Changing the Travel Landscape – How, When, Why? Image Courtesy – https://www.travelandleisure.com
Technologies are changing rapidly with the components that are directly or indirectly related to travel business. Simultaneously, travellers are adopting it to save their time and money to achieve the ultimate comfort in life.
If you are a travel agent, you should always keep an eye for innovative technologies that power the travel industry. New mobile breakthroughs as well as innovative travel solutions, provide customer satisfaction.
Here’s how technology has taken over the travel industry –
Advent of mobile technology
Today’s travellers spend most of their time connected to their mobile devices. They use their mobile devices to search for flights, hotels and holiday packages. A travel portal design must be responsive to provide easy searching, purchasing and reviewing travel destinations by the travellers. If you do not have a responsive design, then chances are there that you will lose your potential customers. This technological issue can ruin the overall goodwill of your travel business.
In order to avoid this situation, you should integrate online booking as well as payment functionality into the mobile app of your travel business. This way, you can remain competitive in an increasingly digitized industry.
Read: How Will Technology Control the Future of Travel Agencies?
Use of online travel booking systems
Technology has made it possible for the travellers to book travel from the comfort of their home. By using a travel booking system, they can book travel in minutes. For hotel booking, there is online hotel booking system and for flight booking there is online flight booking system. There are other booking engines as well for booking car, bus, cruise and many more.
Some other changes that technology is making in the travel industry include –
(i) Use of wearable devices such as smartwatch through which they can board a plane
(ii) Payments of travel booking can be made digitally
(iii) Automation
You may ask, from when is this technological change taking place? From the last few years, technologies have been changing the travel landscape, of course, in a positive way. A number of studies have been conducted on the change of the travel industry through the use of technology. According to a research, over the next few years (2018-2024), digitalization in travel and tourism industry is expected to create up to $305 billion of value for the industry through increased efficiency and profitability. This is great indeed.
Read: Impact of Application Programming Interface on Travel Business
Why is technology changing the travel landscape?
Well, there has been a digital revolution in the field of the travel industry. Things are getting technologically advanced.
Those days have gone when travellers had to visit a local travel agent and book their travel. Today, technology along with high-speed internet, have made it possible for the travellers to book travel, flights, hotels and transfers from the comfort of their home. In short, digitalisation has given travellers and also to travel agents a wide range of options to choose from.
In a business point of view, if you own a travel agency and want to grow your business by integrating latest technologies such as the mobile technology, then there are a lot of travel consultants who can guide you properly. To maintain a goodwill for your business, you have to offer mobile applications; with the help of which your potential clients can book travel while on the go, thereby increasing your revenue.
